Deeper Descent
by DhampyrX2
Summary: Just a deeper look in what might have been in Mal's head after the encounter with Jane where she turned her hair back. And if Disney was a bit more concerned with maintaining modern movie continuities the same way that their Marvel cousins are...
1. Chapter 1

Title: Deeper Descent

Author: DhampyrX2

Genre: Adventure/Drama/X-over

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Don't sue me, I'm poor.

Summary: Just a deeper look in what might have been in Mal's head after the encounter with Jane where she turned her hair back. And if Disney was a concerned with maintaining modern movie continuities the way their Marvel cousins were...

* * *

Mal was still snarling to herself two days after the encounter at Parent's Day as she cleaned up after herself in Remedial Goodness. It was a testament to her souring mood with most of the school that even Evie, Jay, and Carlos were quick to get away from her lest they attract her ire. Everything about Auradon was grating on Mal's nerves like it never had before. The pressure her mother had put on her to get the Fairy Godmother's magick wand mounted by the day and the snippy attitudes of the supposedly heroic royals at the school were actually making her start to miss the Isle. At least there people were honest about their nastiness.

It had been bad enough dealing with that annoying twit Audrey (she refused to refer the Aurora's daughter as "Princess" in the sanctity of her own mind when half her family's holdings belonged to Maleficent and the other Faerie people by right) but to encounter and be humiliated by that withered old crone that Stephan had sired Aurora with? That was too far. She had had enough. Enough of the taunting. Enough of the teasing. Enough of the hatred literally because of where she was born. Enough of watching her own mother become so obsessed with revenge against these fools that she was becoming more of a caricature of herself every day.

Did Aurora have any idea what she had done sending Maleficent to a place that bound her mother's magick? An urbanized slum almost totally cut off from nature as a whole? What kind of torture that would be for an all but immortal faerie sorceress? Things only got worse when Mal's father, Diaval, had passed away stuck as he was in his human form. The rightful Queen of the Moors did not take things like loss and betrayal very well.

Her mental musings were cut short as she hear someone clear her throat and a voice stated, "I saw Jane. She's rather... upset," the Fairy Godmother commented neutrally.

Mal turned with a cynical scowl to face Jane's mother and the Remedial Goodness instructor, which was really more of a faculty adviser than anything, for the villain children at Auradon Prep. "If she had any concept of her own ability as a Fae she should be able to do her hair all on her own," Mal snorted disdainfully. In her first days at the school she had used her magick to improve the other fae girl's mousy pageboy haircut and make her look glamorous as part of her attempts to get information and ingratiate herself to the other students at the school. It hadn't hurt that it had horrified Mal to see another child of powerful Faerie kept ignorant of her own heritage at the insistence of Jane's mother, either. But it had taken no time at all for Audrey to get Jane acting just like the rest of the so called "heroic" children there despite Mal's efforts. Only Ben (and Doug if Evie was involved) treated the kids from the Isle of the Lost like actual people.

The Fairy Godmother nodded evenly as she responded, "I know."

"Do you?" Mal snarled, her control frazzled almost beyond the breaking point. "Do you?! Do you know what it's like to see a fae girl my age walk around like a scolded puppy afraid of everything around her because she thinks she's too _plain?_ That I needed to bother to do such a simple glamour to make her feel like she belonged here? But then she doesn't really belong here, does she?" Mal spat.

"And what does that mean, young lady?" The Fairy Godmother asked, although the sadness in her eyes betrayed that she exactly what Mal meant.

"You have the nerve to ask me that as you stand here like some powerless human in a human kingdom, while your own wand, the focus of your powers, is locked in some museum instead of being in your hand where it belongs?" Mal demanded.

"I didn't need it with the peace the uniting the the kingdoms into Auradon created," the Fairy Godmother replied with a sideways glace.

"It's not about needing it. It's about the fact that it's yours," Mal hissed. "But I guess they won't even trust the Fae on their side to have enough power to defend themselves. Nice to see Aurora following so closely in her father and grandfather's footsteps."

"She is the crowned Queen still," the Fairy Godmother replied neutrally. "Your own mother declared her Queen of the Moors in her stead long before you were born."

"And in return she banished my mother based on lies and assumptions, then gave away a kingdom and people she had no right to sign away, betraying us ALL twice over!" Mal raged. "She broke my mother's heart, like her father before her, just to join and appease these sycophants that look at me and my friends like we're diseased because of where we were born after THEY put us there in the first place."

"Her Majes... that is, Maleficent did not look that bad during your video call with her on parent's day. Well, besides her making comments over my weight," the Fairy Godmother noted wryly.

"You haven't seen her decline. Especially after Daddy..." Mal noted with a look of pained sorrow.

"I must admit that has been a matter of speculation around the faculty, and the Faire Folk, residing here. Who was he?" the Fair Godmother inquired softly, knowing this was a painful subject for her charge.

"Diaval. My father was Diaval," Mal replied hoarsely.

"Her familiar?" the Fairy Godmother asked in shock.

"He was in human form when he was banished and could never return to his natural form as a raven because of the anti-magick barrier around the island. And well, familiars are not so resilient as fae. Especially in a form not truly their own. He's been gone for a while now..." Mal admitted.

"I'm sorry," the Fairy Godmother replied as she moved to place a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder only to be shaken off violently.

"You should be," Mal snapped. "Conforming to the whims of these humans to make you act like them. Letting your daughter feel like she's something lesser among them. I was raised with my magick bound around me by the island and its barrier but I at least knew what it is to be proud of my bloodline. Jane has no idea of the power in her veins. She thinks of herself as a commoner even among humans, while you are one of the most powerful of the Faire Folk in this wretched place."

"And if I tried to act like it where would I be?" Jane's mother asked sadly.

Mal thought for a moment before deflating as she replied, "Your powers stripped and shipped off to Isle just like Mother."

"We must do what we can to protect our own, Mal. King Adam and Queen Belle did not exactly have positive encounters with magick or Fairy sorceresses. Or did you forget it was one of _us_ that cursed him into the form of a Beast for his lack of hospitality? Do you think Jane could survive here without me? Or survive on the Isle of the Lost if she was banished along side me for my insolence?" the Fairy Godmother replied evenly.

"It might have done her some good. She would have developed some spine there. And we DO take care of our own," Mal sneered.

"Yes, because Evie looked so much like she could take care of herself letting Chad Charming manipulate her into doing his homework before trying to humiliate her when she stopped helping him cheat," the Fairy Godmother noted the recent plight of the Evil Queen's daughter with sarcasm as she raised her left eyebrow in challenge. She honestly didn't know where her little Cinderella's boy got his manipulative streak from, but there were days she wanted to turn him into a toad or a rat for an afternoon to try to break him of his habits.

Mal grunted and looked away as she conceded, "In her own ways Evie has always been starved for attention. It doesn't help that the four of us grew up almost as siblings all being the same ages as the kids of the more prominent residents of the Isle. She couldn't exactly look to Jay or Carlos to reinforce her mother's puerile need to be 'pretty' once she started growing into a woman because they could never see her that way. Nor could she expect them to fulfill Grimhilda's ridiculous ideal of her daughter finding a rich and handsome prince to care for them both as if any such thing existed there. All she was allowed to learn was to ensnare men and keep house."

The Fairy Godmother's expression softened as she noted, "At least Ben takes more after his parents than Chad ever did. He really does like you, you know."

Mal looked away in what she hoped would pass for embarrassment. The last thing she needed was for the meddling excuse for a Faerie to realize Mal had given Ben a potion to make him take an interest in her as part of her mother's plot to obtain the wand of the woman before her. What they were building together wasn't real. No matter how much she wanted it to be. But thoughts of taking after parents made her think of that cow Audrey and raised her ire all over again.

"Some people here take too much after their parents, if you ask me," Mal muttered darkly.

"Despite your little introduction your first day, and the friction between you both over the Prince now, Princess Audrey never knew the whole story between her mother and yours," the Fairy Godmother pointed out, knowing full well the source of the purple-haired girl's sour mood.

"Yes because a pretty lie is easier to deal with than the truth. My mother and father BOTH would be soaring the skies above our heads right now if it wasn't," Mal challenged back.

"Perhaps," the Fairy Godmother conceded. "But is there anything you can do about it now without putting yourself and your friends at risk?"

"Does tearing out every hair on my would be niece's head count as doing something?" Mal asked.

"I think that might still get you in trouble," the Fairy Godmother noted as she tried to hold in a smile.

Mal deflated at bit as she responded, "Then no. There isn't anything I can do. That doesn't make what Aurora did right, though."

"No, it doesn't. But unless your mother somehow gets free and challenges her for the right to the throne of the Moors there is not much more you could do," the Fairy Godmother replied resignedly.

Mal winced a bit as she noted, "That would be... ugly. Like I said before, Mother has not weathered captivity well."

"At least she had you there with her," the Fairy Godmother replied with a wince of her own. Just the thought of the true Faerie Queen's likely wrath should she ever get free was terrifying to imagine.

Mal saw no reason to discuss how distant and wrathful her mother had become over the years, especially since Diaval's passing, as she weakly replied, "Yeah, right."

"Mal, I know it's been hard adjusting here for all of you. But Ben wants this to work. And not just because you have the poor boy smitten. He wants all four of your to truly feel you belong here. To have a home in Auradon. Is that so bad?" the Fairy Godmother asked.

"No," Mal conceded. "Ben is the best thing about being here by far. And he will make a great king someday."

"Then trust in him. Don't let your anger and jealousy get the better of you. No matter how justified it may be," the Fairy Godmother advised with a shrewd look.

Mal's expression was pure innocence as she asked, "Why whatever do you mean Fairy Godmother?"

"You do realize that I was born in the age when crossing the Faire Folk was still considered a death wish, don't you, child?" Jane's mother asked with a knowing look. "Just because I tried to be better than that doesn't mean I've lost all sense of what it is to be Fae."

Mal remained silent, unwilling to voice her opinion on how little the woman before her seemed to still BE Fae to her again.

"I know you must choose you own path. All I ask is that you consider the consequences. Not just for you or your mother, but for your friends. And that includes Ben. Please think it over," the Fairy Godmother advised before turning and taking her leave.

For her part, Mal could only watch on silently, her head a whirl of new thoughts to ponder. Did she really want to follow her mother's path? Was there redemption at the end of the tunnel for her and her friends? Would Ben think twice about her without the potion in the cookie she gave him?

So many questions. So little time before the coronation, and the wand being free for the taking, to answer them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note** : You will notice some mention of Norse mythology in reference to dwarves, jotunn, and dark elves in this chapter. That does not mean I will be crossing the Disney side with the Marvel side of things. But the Seven Dwaves in the story of Snow White were in the form of the Germanic tradition, which was derived from the Norse tradition, so it fits rather well. Also, when Doug first introduced himself he IIRC it sounded like he introduced himself as "Doug Dopeyson. You know the son of Dopey of the Seven Dwarves" or something along those likes. That would follow the Norse tradition of patrimonial naming and thus ALSO fits well with adding a small bit of Norse mythology.

* * *

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to ask in the reviews or PM's. And with that, on with the show...

Princess Audrey stopped short as she heard voices in what should have been an empty classroom. Mostly because one of those voices was that of that... interloper Mal. Oh how Audrey despised her. With her inhumanly exotic looks, and her spells that made plain looking girls almost as pretty as Audrey herself, and her ability to catch Ben's eye. That was supposed to Audery's place at his side, not the daughter of the woman that tried to kill both her parents! She could not help but eavesdrop as she heard the conversation between Jane's mother and Maleficent's daughter.

Needless to say she was more than a little shocked to hear the conversation between them. Her grandmother had told her all her life how rotten Maleficent was. How it had been the Dark Fairy that had caused her grandfather's death. How anything connected to her was twisted and evil. So why was Mal talking like her mother and grandfather had betrayed Maleficent's trust? And why would Cinderalla's Fairy Godmother act like it was the truth?

The revelation that Mal's father was dead was an unpleasant discovery as well, although she made certain to commit his name to memory for future gossip. Still Audrey had never taken the time to consider the _other_ parents of the four children from the Isle of the Lost before. Did they all share similar fates? Goodness knew the way Carlos De Vil had bonded with the campus mutt, Dude, spoke of his desperate need for affection. Especially considering his mother, Cruella's, view on what to use animals for.

She nearly squawked and revealed herself when the Faerie girl had mentioned a desire to rip out her would be niece's hair (who else besides Mal would consider Maleficent of all creatures their mother?) but held her place to try to get more information. Instead she learned that Mal apparently was legitimately fond of Ben and thought he would make a great king. The fact the girl was apparently interested in him for more than spiteful reasons made Audrey a bit nauseous. Especially after she agreed to make a date with that idiot Chad Charming for the Coronation.

But it was when the Fairy Godmother reminisced about the dangers of angering the Fae in her day that the Princess decided to take her leave. She needed to contact her mother for advice. Besides, she was certain her Mother would at least want to know the name of Mal's father. It was one of the juiciest pieces of gossip being speculated about in school, after all.

* * *

Two hours and a very enlightening conversation with her daughter later Aurora hung up the phone. She had done what she could to reassure her little girl without lying to her, which meant telling her very little really. But what else could she do? How could she tell Audrey that what Phillip and the others had taught her was all a lie? That for all her reputation to the contrary, that Maleficent had truly been Aurora's own fairy godmother?

And now, to learn what she had about the once Faerie Queen's daughter she felt even more conflicted. Part of her was happy the woman that had protected her from the shadows for the first sixteen years of her life had found some kind of happiness with Diaval. Another part of her felt a deep sorrow to hear of his passing. And part of her, deep down inside, felt... jealous of Mal for her connection to the both of them.

But mostly, she felt a sense of loss at never getting to know the girl that should have seen her as a big sister. A girl that was apparently feuding with Audrey quite fiercely over the affections of Belle's son.

She was also horrified to hear the girl apparently equated Aurora with her father. Granted, you did not speak ill of the dead, and Stephan was remembered fondly in Auradon today, but her father had honestly been an unfeeling monster with a tenuous grip on reality at best when she met him. Her birth mother was nice enough, if somewhat vapid, but Stephan... no. She would not go down that road. She would not let herself dwell too hard on the past. At least, not now.

Besides, Ben's coronation was only in a few days and Phillip and Aurora would both be in attendance. With any luck she could meet with Mal there and get her own measure of the girl. Yes, that was what she would do. After all, they were practically family. It was time them met face to face. What could go wrong with that?

* * *

The (very) early morning of the day of Ben's Coronation found Mal looking over the lavender ballgown Evie had made for her in record time with a look that bordered on awe. "You really outdid yourself this time, E. This is right up there with my leather jacket as my favorite of your creations."

"Don't think you look too much like a pink prissy princess, M?" Evie asked with a proud smirk. Probably the best skill her mother ever taught her was clothes-making. It was the one passion she could share with Queen Grimhilde without fear of being scolded. It was also something, much like Mal's cooking talents (which were also taught by Grimhilde as cooking mortal human food was not exactly something you would learn from a Faerie Queen like Maleficent) that she could share between the four of them. They had always run together like a pack, a family, and watched out for one another.

Speaking of, Mal asked distractedly, "Have Jay and Carlos done anything to that idiot Chad yet?"

Evie shook her head as she replied, "I think they're waiting to see which way Doug will go. He wanted to defend us at Parent's Day before Chad intimidated him. They probably want to see if he can be trusted before they decide how far to take things."

"You mean he wanted to defend **_you_ ,**" Mal noted with roll of her eyes.

Evie smiled sadly as she replied, "Yeah, I suppose. But he was also the only other person here besides Ben that didn't want something from us to be nice."

"Really?" Mal asked flatly with a skeptical look.

"Oh, come on, Mal. You can't blame the boy for being attracted to me. But he also believed in me. That I'm more than just a pretty face. That's special. Even on the Isle," Evie noted. She was also having serious second thoughts on the plans to take the Fairy Godmother's wand at the coronation. Even if she didn't want to say it.

"Well dwarves are known for their loyalty. And even if his line is a few generations removed from Nidavellir, at least he's not just a regular human," Mal noted with a shrug.

"You do remember that I'm technically human, right M? Carlos too," Evie asked with a mild glare.

"Pfft. You have blue hair, E. And it's not like we have ridiculous luxuries like hair dye on the Isle for anyone but Cruella. I'd bet hard cash your father isn't fully human. And your mom's powers came from somewhere too," Mal dismissed as she sat down at the vanity and let Evie start to style her hair.

"I always suspected Hades could be my father. You know with the blue hair. I could see mom trying to seduce a god," Evie speculated.

"Gross," Mal responded with a wince. Mal had barely begun to accept her attraction to Ben. She certainly wasn't ready to picture Queen Grimhilde... seducing anyone.

"Aw, is little M getting uncomfortable with big girl talk?" Evie teased with a wicked little grin as she started to work on her best friend's hair.

"Do you really want me to horrify you with things I heard my parents doing when I was little and they thought I was asleep, E?" Mal warned.

"Go for it. Maybe I'll learn something. After all, not all of us are total prudes raised to only seek power like you were," Evie teased back.

"Ugh," Mal grunted is disgust, unwilling to take the conversation any further than it had already gone.

After a few moments of relatively companionable silence Evie noted, "You never said anything about Carlos."

Mal rolled her eyes as she replied, "He's got a full head of white hair at fourteen. He's got some kind of non-human family in his line. Maybe jotunn or dark elf."

"Maybe. I could see Cruella finding a dark elf attractive. And vice-versa" Evie said thoughtfully.

"I'd be more likely to believe she had one in her line, honestly. Would explain some of her personality quirks," Mal shot back.

It was an old game they all played. "Who could our other parents be?" Only Mal knew both of her birth parents for certain.

There was another lull in the conversation before Evie asked, "After it's.. you know... over? Will you visit the Moors?"

"Of course. The only reason I haven't gone there already is because of all the craziness here. And because Mother told me not to lose focus," Mal replied. Her expression grew annoyed as she added, "I'd drag Jane along with me if I could, too. That girl needs some serious lessons in her own heritage. Her mother has all but crippled her here."

"She grew up a Faerie learning to be human. You grew up almost like a human learning to be a Faerie because of the barrier blocking most of our powers," Evie noted.

"I wonder how long it's going to take Jay to realize he's half djinn and likely has some serious magick of his own?" Mal asked.

"Probably a month or so after Jafar gets loose and shows up in all his dark genie glory," Evie noted with a snicker. One of Jay's major failings was that he was always living in the moment rather than thinking things through. It was one of the drawbacks of growing up a petty thief and general street rat as he had back home.

"Do you think it will be bad? After my Mom gets here?" Mal asked hollowly after another pause in conversation.

"Probably. After your dad died she went kinda..." Evie trailed off.

"I know. It went from just 'watch out for yourself first' and 'you can't trust humans' and 'never let yourself love a human' to 'be nasty and evil' and 'never cry' and 'be more like me,' " Mal recalled forlornly.

"Your Dad was the best. He taught us so many cool tricks to keep from getting caught when we wanted to go cause trouble," Evie noted wistfully.

Mal smiled sadly as she replied, "Yeah, the best."

"Speaking of getting out of things... are you sure you want to give Ben the... you know?" Evie asked.

Mal's mood sobered even more as she replied, "I told you, leaving him in love with me after would be cruel. He was good to us. He deserves better than that."

"Even if he's human?" Evie asked mischeviously.

Mal snorted in a very unladylike way as she replied, "He got some of his father's Beast form in him. I heard him roar on our date. No human makes a sound like that."

Evie's expression grew devilish as she asked, "You had him roaring for you, huh?"

"E!" Mal exclaimed with a blush.

"You sure you don't want to see if you can get him to purr too? I could give you some tips," Evie continued.

Mal growled in frustration as she glared at he friend through her reflection in the vanity's mirror, her eyes glowing green without meaning to, as she snapped, "Just finish putting my hair up so you can start torturing me with that gunk you call make-up."

Evie chose to ignore Mal's insult toward her favorite cosmetics as she dutifully continued to work on Mal's hair.

* * *

As Mal and Evie were getting ready Aurora was visiting with her daughter in her private dorm room with a very strange request from Audrey's point of view.

"Why would you possibly want to meet Mal, Mom? I mean she's going to be at the coronation anyway so you could just see her there," Audrey asked with a quizzical look.

"I just need to discuss a few things with her," Aurora hedged.

"Like what? I mean if you want to talk to her about stealing Ben from me, I'm all for it, but is this really the time?" Audrey asked. Her expression grew more serious as she noted the look of nervous agitation on her mother's face as she continued, "Is this about the stuff I told you? The things I overheard her saying to the Fairy Godmother?"

Aurora did her best not to flinch as Audrey mentioned the headmistress of the school. To Aurora she would always be "Cinderella's Fairy Godmother" at best. The only person that could be THE Fairy Godmother in her eyes was Maleficent. But she could not tell her daughter that. Not without ruining Audrey's entire image of her family, at any rate. And possibly setting in motion things that could lead to Belle and Adam rescinding Phillip and Aurora's titles as they were obtained through duplicitous means. She didn't really think Audrey could handle not being a Princess. She was not raised away from Royal life the way Aurora had been.

Audrey grew more worried as Aurora's thoughts turned inward and prodded, "Mom?"

"Sorry dear. I just got lost in thought. But yes, I do have to speak to Maleficent's daughter about some things that concern her mother and I. There are some things she deserves to hear first hand. And I would prefer they be done in private rather than in a room full of gossiping royals and courtiers," Aurora explained.

"Mom is there something I should know about all of this? I mean all Grandmother would tell me was that they were both evil and Maleficent had a hand in Grandfather's death," Audrey replied.

Aurora looked furious for a moment before composing herself as she conceded, "I suppose you could say that. If you consider not wanting to get run through with a sword as having something to do with it."

"What?" Audrey asked, confused.

"Your grandfather had taken hold of Maleficent's ankle as she was trying to fly away after a fight. She shook him off and dropped him on a tower roof to keep from killing him. She warned him to never attack her like that again. He chose instead to try to charge her and run her through. She moved, he missed, and he... fell all on his own. Perhaps your grandmother blames her for not trying to save him," Aurora explained.

"But. But that sounds like self defense," Audrey noted as her mouth flew to her hand in horror.

Aurora closed her eyes and swallowed hard before looking at her daughter once more. "You were born in a time of peace and light for all the people of Auradon, Audrey. You've never known war or strife. I was not so fortunate. My father, and your grandmother's father before him, had been warring with Maleficent and her Faerie kingdom for over thirty years combined off and on. War is not pretty and it isn't black and white. There were actions on both sides that were not... good. Part of the reason the villains were exiled to the Isle of the Lost was to try to stop such things from happening again," she explained.

"Wait, so Maleficent is a Queen? Does that make Mal a Princess?" Audrey asked, trying to focus on the least disturbing thing her mother had just told her.

"She was a queen. She had been the protector of the Moors and the Faire Folk there before that, but declared herself queen with the full support of the Moors after your great-grandfather started his campaign to try to annex them into his kingdom. As for Mal, I'm not sure. If you asked any in the Faerie realm, they would say yes. But Maleficent did abdicate her throne shortly after her curse was broken. So from a legal standpoint, that would be the the Royal Council and the Houses of Parliament to debate. But from where I sit, I would say that yes, she is," Aurora explained.

"Oh," Audrey replied, stunned at the pedigree of her rival. "Wait. Aren't you Queen of the Moors now? I mean I know they don't acknowledge Daddy as their king, but they call you Queen. How did that happen if it was Maleficent's kingdom?" she demanded with a confused expression.

Aurora's face grew sad as she replied, "That is a tale for another time and another place, honey. For now I need to speak with my st-... with Mal. There I things in regards to my title as Queen of the Moors that she should be told. It is her birthright, after all." That had been close for Aurora. She had almost called Mal her "step-sister" without meaning to.

Audrey's face grew more confused, as well as a bit outraged, at her mother's response. It had always bothered her that the handful of times she had joined her mother in visiting the Moors and Aurora's three Pixie guardians as a child, the inhabitants there beyond her three Aunties never showed her any of the respect they showed her mother. Even if, looking back on it, that respect for Aurora had been grudging at best. In fact, when Audrey had grown too agitated and snapped at a pair of river sprites that her mother was their Queen and that made her their Princess and they should show her respect, they laughed at her and told her she had not and NEVER WOULD BE a princess of the Moors. That had never made sense to Audrey. But if the title was only her mother's by a non-bloodline means, like some kind of regency, it suddenly made much more sense. Of course that meant Mal was likely the blood-heir to the throne of the Moors instead. It was probably what her mother needed to discuss with her, actually. But was Mal aware of her birthright? Was Ben? Was that part of the reason why Ben dumped Audrey for Mal? The thought didn't seem right to Aurora's daughter. Even as Heir to the Throne of Auradaon Bennie-Boo had never been one to put on airs or be overly concerned with status. But the fact that there was more to Mal than just a "bad girl" that might be a passing fancy for Ben was troubling.

Audrey kept these thoughts to herself as she stood up and told her mother, "Well I suppose I should show you to her and the Evil Queen's daughter's dorm. With Mal having to escort Ben they are probably getting her ready."

Her mother smiled in thanks as she stood from where she had been seated on her daughter's bed and straightened her dress and her crown. Aurora had to look her best. She was about to be meeting family, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Aurora would have been lying if she has claimed she did not feel supremely nervous as her daughter knocked on the door to Mal and Evie's dorm room. This was the first time she would ever see Maleficent's daughter in the flesh. Oh, she had seen a few pictures here and there that the local media had published highlighting Price Ben's project to integrate the children if the Isle of the Lost back into the society of Auradon as a whole, of course. But to see her in person. To be able to talk to her. Maybe even hug her. The butterflies in her stomach multiplied at the thought.

Evie and Mal both turned toward the knock at the door with looks of confusion. Who would be bothering them at this early of an hour? On the off chance, bordering on impossibility, that Jay and Carlos were up this early to go over their plans one last time they would have used their special knock before coming in.

"I'll get it. You stay there. I still have to do your blush and your lipstick," Evie said as she got up to check the door. Needless to say she was very confused to see Mal's worst enemy at the school, Audrey, waiting there with some older lady dressed in an elegant pink gown. "Audrey? What are you doing here at seven in the morning?" she asked, hoping the Princess was not there for a confrontation before the Coronation.

"Hello, Evie. Is Mal up yet? My... well my Mom wants to talk to her," Audrey explained awkwardly. The confrontation between them all on Parent's day was still fresh in her mind. Including how Chad had belittled the girl in front of her before getting taken down with some kind of sleeping potion. She knew full well that the Evil Queen's daughter was capable and willing to defend herself if need be.

"Of course she's up. I have to get her ready for the Coronation," Evie responded automatically, offended at the notion she would not have Mal looking her best. The rest of the statement caught up with her as she took a more defensive stance in front of the door and darted her eyes toward what was apparently Queen Aurora before returning her attention to Audrey as she coolly asked, "What could your mother possibly have to say to Mal?"

Audrey didn't know exactly how to answer that question, mostly because her mother had been somewhat evasive when she had asked the same question a few minutes prior, but was saved from trying to come up with something,

"It's a private matter between Mal and I, Evie was it?" Aurora interjected with her hands clasped nervously in front of her.

Evie's expression grew frostier as she was prepared to rebuff the par outright and slam the door when Mal called out to her, "It's okay, E. Let her in."

"M are you sure?" Evie asked with a worried look over her shoulder. She had to suppress a flinch at the look in her best friend's eyes. This was the hardened look of the girl known as the Princess of the Isle (much to Mal's disgust and ire) back home. The leader of their gang of miscreants that could drop Jay in a fist fight if she needed to. Not that she ever had. The closest she ever got was teaching those two idiot twin sons of Gaston some respect once or twice. Still you did not cross Mal when that look was in her eye. Not if you could help it.

"It's fine. I imagine Aurora and I have a few things to talk about. Especially where my mother is concerned," Mal frostily replied.

Evie nodded in acceptance before turning back toward the pair and side and stepping back to allow them entrance into the room. "Just so you know, she's not drinking anything you give her and she doesn't even have wings of her own. So don't get any funny ideas," Evie hissed at Aurora as she made her way in, causing the Queen of the Moors to pale considerably as she took in the dark glare the daughter of Queen Grimhilde was giving her. The warning was very clear. Mal was her friend and if Aurora even thought of hurting her Evie would defend her.

Audrey however was extremely confused as she asked, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'll explain later, dear," Aurora hurriedly replied, earning twin looks of shock at Audrey's apparent ignorance from Evie and Mal.

"You never even told her," Evie whispered in shock. And here all this time they thought Audrey was just a self-entitled little priss rubbing what her mother got away with in Mal's face. But if she was unaware... wow Aurora was more messed up than they gave her credit for. She might even have what it took to survive on the Isle.

"Sounds like someone's been keeping secrets... Beastie. No children's stories of fairy godmothers and pretty birds to help Audrey sleep when she was younger?" Mal asked with narrowed eyes as she addressed Aurora for he first time.

As she spoke Aurora took in the full features of Mal for the first time. The purple hair was the first thing to catch her attention, although it wasn't much of a shock as unique hair colors were quite common among the Faire Folk. As she took in Mal's face, though, she could not help but let out a little gasp. She looked so much like a younger version of her mother. Although it was clear Mal had inherited Dival's less pronounced cheekbones. All in all she was an amazing blend of her parents and seeing her in the flesh was almost painful to Aurora. "You look so much like them," she whispered.

"Thanks," Mal responded flatly. "Your mother made sure to point that out when she assumed I was my Mom a few days ago at Parent's Day."

Aurora felt ashamed to even think about the scene her biological mother had made ridiculing the kids from the Isle of the Lost as she replied, "I must apologize for her behavior. She had no excuse to act like that toward you. Toward any of you."

"Don't even think about it. At this point I think my family should be fairly used to being hurt one way or another by yours," Mal dismissed with a dark smirk.

Audrey felt supremely lost at the conversation going on around her as she asked, "Mom, what is she talking about?"

Aurora swallowed nervously as she shot a glance at her daughter before returning her attention to Mal as she said, "Audrey, maybe you should head to the dining hall and get some breakfast? Mal and I need some privacy."

"But Mom~" Audrey protested only to be cut off with a stern look from her mother.

"Please, dear. I'll explain later. I promise. But for now, this is between Mal and I," Aurora implored.

"Fine," Audrey acquiesced. She really wanted to know what this was all about, but she knew what the stubborn expression on her mother's face meant.

"You want me to stick around, M, or should I get some breakfast too?" Evie asked, only willing to leave Mal's side with her permission.

Mal gave a less venomous smile to her friend as she replied, "Go ahead and eat, E. You can come finish painting me up like a doll after you're done."

Evie nodded in acceptance of the dismissal before adding, "You need me, you know where I am."

With that Evie and Audrey both headed out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Aurora waited a few moment before sighing and looking to the floor in shame as she said, "I suppose it would be pointless to ask how much your mother told you."

"Not much really. She doesn't like to talk about it. My father wasn't as quiet though. Blackbirds rarely are," Mal noted.

If anything Aurora's expression grew more withdrawn as she nodded in understanding.

Her reaction made Mal narrow her eyes as she noted, "You're not surprised about who my father is. You already know."

Aurora winced and little before looking up to meet Mal's gaze, and by the gods did she have her mother's eyes, as she admitted, "Audrey overheard you talking with Cinderella's Fairy Godmother yesterday and called to ask me about some of the things you alluded to."

Mal seemed momentarily upset before sniffing in dismissal as she responded, "Didn't think she had it in her. If she hadn't been invading my privacy I'd almost feel proud of her."

Aurora small grin as she weakly joked, "Well she _is_ your niece, from a certain point of view."

Mal's expression told her immediately that it wasn't anything close to the right thing to say to her.

* * *

As Mal and Aurora were getting somewhat acquainted, Evie and Audrey were as good as their respective words in going to the dining hall to give them some privacy.

Evie was daintily picking at a cheese danish and sipping orange juice. And while one would expect an apple turnover or apple juice to be part of her breakfast of choice, she actually tended to avoid apple products in general as her mother all but forced what examples of the fruit she could find on her daughter for most of her life. Granted more of those were either bitter apples or mealy ones shipped to the island because they were not wanted in Auradon, but Grimhilde had all but ruined the iconic fruit for her. She did her best to ignore Audrey as the girl sat across form her and gazed intently at her.

Finally, after a good couple of minutes of being ignored, Audrey let out an exasperated, "Well? Are you going to tell me what all this is about?"

Evie gave a look of innocent confusion that would have fooled anyone but her friends most days as she replied, "Whatever do you mean?"

Audrey's expression darkened as she responded, "Quit the innocent act. I haven't been able to get a straight answer from Mother since I asked her what all this was about. But it's pretty clear you know a lot more than I do. What is going on between my Mother and Maleficent? And what was that crack you made about drinks and wings before we were sent out of the room like were were asking to sit at the kiddie table?"

Evie looked genuinely confused at the notion of a "kiddie table" but dismissed it as some strange Auradon thing they didn't bother with on the isle before she asked, "How much DO you know?"

Audrey's brow furrowed in consternation as she replied, "What everyone else does. Maleficent tried to kill my parents. She cursed my mom as a baby for not being invited to her Christening when the rest of the kingdom had been. My dad defeated her with the help of my Aunties."

Evie looked like she was almost amused at what she was being told as she gave the Princess a pitying look and asked, "Anything else?"

Audrey looked reluctant to say more before she added,"Apparently Maleficent was Queen of the Moors before my mother was given the title. And from what Mom told me today, my grandfather died attacking her when she tried to spare him and he fell off a castle tower."

"And do you know why King Stefan was attacking Maleficent?" Evie prodded with a raised brow.

"Um, because she cursed my mother?" Audrey asked, as if it was obvious.

Evie chuckled as she replied, "I can't believe how little they told you. Granted, I only know as much as I do because M and I have been friends for years and her dad filled us in, but still. If anyone should know the skeletons in your family's closet it's you. That's just sloppy."

"What are you talking about?" Audrey demanded.

"Are you sure you want to know? It sounded like your mother wanted to keep you in the dark a while longer, and it's not a happy tale," Evie teased.

Audrey growled under her breath as she spat, "Tell me. I'm not some little girl that needs to be hidden from the truth."

"You probably won't believe me," Evie warned. "It doesn't paint you grandfather or great-grandfather in very pleasant lights."

"Just tell me," Audrey insisted.

"Well the tale starts with an orphaned Nature Faerie born in the Mysterious Moors. A happy little girl with the most amazing wings like and eagle that spent her whole day frolicking, healing wounded trees, and protecting her homeland from the incursion of humans, who were forbidden to enter the Moors, with the help of her tree golem guardians. And her name was Maleficent..." Evie began.

* * *

"Don't you EVER say anything like that to me again. You have no right to claim any kind of kinship to me or my mother. Not after what you've done," Mal hissed as she stood to glare at the woman before her.

Aurora looked appropriately chastised as the expression on Mal's face. It was like a combination of the horror on Maleficent's face the day she had naively called her Aurora's fairy godmother for the first time combined with unbridled rage and heartbreak. If Mal was this upset on her mother's behalf, she could only imagine how Maleficent herself must feel.

"I know I have done you and your family a great wrong," Aurora began.

"Do you? Do you!?" Mal spat. "You have no concept of the hurt you brought upon my family. You were the second person my mother ever allowed herself to love. And she loved you will all the love of a mother for her daughter, _despite_ you being the living representation of your father's bitter betrayal of her trust. In her eyes you all but redeemed humanity in the same way that monster Stephan had condemned them for his own ambitions. And then you did the... Exact. Same. Thing. Oh, you didn't seduce and maim her first, I'll grant you. You didn't rob a _part_ of her power and body along with her innocence. No, you just tossed her away to protect your tainted titles as Stephan's daughter so you could live an easy life here. You robbed her of almost **ALL** of her power putting her in the urban **HELL** under the barrier because you were too spineless to correct the people that had no idea of what really happened to you. You put a Nature Faerie with no powers into a city with only her reputation as a monster and my father to protect her. No, my Lady, you have no idea of scope of the wrongs you have done to my family."

"I never thought-" Aurora began only to be cut off.

"Of course you didn't. That would have ruined your pretty little lies. Not that it mattered. Mother became everything she was accused of being and more on the Isle. It was the only way to not just survive, but to thrive there. She rules through her own strength now, and not just on your tainted little rumors. But why should you care? You certainly didn't when you exiled her and my father both," Mal interjected hatefully.

"That isn't true!" Aurora insisted with tears in her eyes.

"Isn't it? And yet there was your daughter with no idea of what really put you on your throne. On either throne, Queen of the Moors," Mal shot back with a scowl. "Tell me, did you know that my mother all but went mad with grief because of your betrayal? Stephan put her half way there, I'll grant you, but you took care of most of the rest. Only my father kept her somewhat together for a time. And then he, too, was gone."

Aurora looked away in sorrow and shame as tears fell from her eyes. She didn't know what she could say in the face of this angry young woman before her. An angry young woman that was literally raised in a prison colony because of Aurora was not strong enough to try to stop it. Mal had every right to hate her, to hate them all, and she knew it.

"Know this Aurora of the House of Stephan," Mal continued bitterly. "That barrier can restrict my mother for a time, but it will never keep her restrained forever. You can't hold back a whirlwind with a simple wall. She's all but immortal and one day she will figure out a way out of that prison. And when she does, pray you and your line are no more, because you killed whatever goodness rested in her heart long ago. I spent my whole life fighting for her approval and watching her expect me to turn on her at a moment's notice because of _you._ She will not be trying to save you with True Love's Kiss if she ever sees you again."

* * *

Audrey looked like she wanted to throw up as Evie recounted the tale of Maleficent and Aurora as she had been taught. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. King Henry, her great-grandfather, a blood soaked tyrant trying to take the Moors by force? Her grandfather a conniving schemer that drugged and mutilated a woman that loved him to gain his throne? From the way Evie told things the only one innocent in the whole mess had been her mother. And if it was true, Audrey could not blame Maleficent for the way she had acted through any of it. Heck, in her version MALEFICENT was the one to save her mother with True Love's Kiss. Granted, it was a kiss with a mother's love, but still.

"It's a lie. It has to be a lie," she muttered to herself as if hoping saying so would make the words not true.

Evie shrugged, wholly disinterested in the girl's distress, as she replied, "I just told you the tale as I heard of from Uncle Diaval. He wanted Mal to know the whole story before he died and I wrote it down for her as he recited it so we'd never forget. I'm sure your family has a different take on things. And history is always written by the winners. But if you can wring an oath to tell the truth from them first I'm sure you could ask those thee traitor Faeries that looked after your mom in the woods. They know most of this."

"Why? Why would Maleficent be banished if that's what happened? She was as much a victim as my mother. It doesn't make sense," Audrey insisted.

Evie gave the Princess a critical look as she answered, "Did you pay attention to ANY of your political science lessons growing up? Or is that a non-issue to teach royal kids with all the crowns being united under the United States of Auradon? Because it should be pretty obvious."

"What are you talking about? What does any of this... horror have to do with political science?" Audrey demanded.

"Basic royal politics," Evie explained, as if talking to a small child. "Maleficent had been facing a smear campaign of negative propaganda in the human world dating back to King Henry's reign. The one time she showed up with any people of influence there to see her, beyond those with their own secrets to hide like your grandfather, was to curse your infant mother. It's not like she declared to the whole of the Royal Court that it was in retaliation for Stephan betraying and maiming her to get her throne. Or that they would have believed the word of one faerie over that of the sitting King. Now, granted, the throne should never have been his because he was supposed to kill her to get it, and what he did was so much worse than killing her, but that's neither here nor there. King Henry believed he had completed his task when presented with her wings and gave Stephan the throne, and your grandmother, before his passing and could not take it back. Either way, Maleficent had been painted as a villain regardless of what really happened and the only ones that could have contradicted it and cleared her name were your parents as the only surviving witnesses."

"But that's my point. Why wouldn't they?" Audrey insisted.

If anything, Evie looked pitying at her confusion as she remarked, "You really were sheltered. Why to protect their crowns, of course. If all this came out it not only destroys the legitimacy of Stephan's reign but it would have disqualified them from a place among the Council of Royals as part of the Articles of Unification for Auradon. I mean, at best, you would have retained a low level title related to your dad's line. But your mother's kingdom would likely be dissolved altogether. And if the truth came out after Maleficent and Diaval were wrongly exiled, along with her goblin servants who have been petitioning for release from the island for years I might add, well the best case scenario would have been the dissolution of your crown the same as they did to my mother. At worst, your parents might have been residing on the Isle themselves."

"No. It had to be more than that. It can't just be to keep their titles. Mom never even cared much about being a Queen," Audrey insisted.

Evie shrugged as she replied, "I don't know your family all that well. All I can do is look at it from the outside. But look at it this way, if Maleficent didn't belong there to begin with she certainly does now. And she brought the place to heel so it's not nearly as bad as it could be."

"What? What do you mean?" Audrey asked, unable to stop herself.

"Maleficent is called the Queen of the Isle now. All accept that she is the strongest and rules over the rest of us. My mother, Jafar, and Cruella act as her cabinet of advisers. Which really, works out for the best. Maleficent is the power and authority. She knows what it takes to maintain control and prevent constant riots in the streets despite shortages of nearly everything, not to mention keeping certain nastier crimes from happening. My mother was born and raised into political intrigue, including becoming a Queen in her own right, before her exile. If she hadn't been so obsessed with her much younger stepdaughter being prettier than her, I would have probably been going here right alongside you all along. Jafar was a royal Grand Vizier, which includes wearing meany hats, including spymaster. He was the sultan's eyes and ears in Agrabah for years before his own ambition got the better of him and as long as you remember what kind of snake he is, he's the perfect one to keep an eye on the streets and know what is really going on around you. And Cruella was a ridiculously successful business woman in her own right. If she hadn't lost her mind over those dogs she'd still be running her company which makes her a good choice to look after and maintain the local economy. Together they bring a stability to the Isle that it would have lacked otherwise."

"You sound like you respect them," Audrey noted.

"Of course we do. They're our parents. Granted, I think the only one of the four of them that knows anything about being affectionate was my mother, and that was to try to teach me to find a husband for myself, but they're still our parents. You have to respect them," Evie replied as if it were obvious.

The problem for Audrey though, was that she was unsure of she could still respect HER parents if she found out what Evie had told her was the truth.

* * *

Eventually Aurora found she could not longer take the venom being spat at her by her would-be little sister and excused herself only to find Audrey sitting at a table looking as horrified and broken as Aurora herself felt. Evie took one look at the Queen and quietly excused herself to get back to working on Mal's make-up without another glance at either royal.

"Mommy. Please tell me it isn't true," Audrey finally whispered even as she saw the truth of her fears in her mother's eyes.

It didn't take a leap of deductive reasoning to figure out that Grimhilde's daughter had apparently told Audrey a more detailed account of Aurora's early life. She embraced her crying daughter as her own tears flowed as she replied, "I wish I could. Or that I could take so much of it back. I should have stood up for her when this all started and Auradon was formed."

"Mom, what now?" Audrey asked as she tried to compose herself.

"We do our best, dear. For now we get cleaned up and attend the Coronation. After that, I don't know. But I will find some way to try to make amends. Mal is... family. And even if she's furious with me for the rest of our lives I won't let her forget that. I won't forget my family a second time," Aurora swore.

"I won't have to start calling her Auntie like I do with Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather will I? Because it's creepy to think of the girl that stole your boyfriend like that," Audrey confessed.

Aurora let out a little broken chuckle as she responded, "I don't think you need to go that far."

After another pause Audrey asked, "Do you miss her?"

"My Fairy Godmother?" Aurora clarified as Audrey nodded in agreement. "Every day, my girl. And my Pretty Bird. I imagine he would be as furious with me as Mal's mother. Maybe even more so."

"Can you tell me about them? How they were when you knew them?" Audrey asked.

Aurora smiled sadly as she replied, "After the Coronation. I'll tell you everything. I promise."

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* * *

As always reviews are the coin of the realm and are appreciated. Feel free to PM me with any questions or suggestions you might have. They all keep the creative juices flowing.


	4. Chapter 4

Mal was a bundle of emotions as she stood off to the side through Ben's coronation. The revelation that her spell had been broken on their first date and he actually loved her on his own had thrown her for a loop. She honestly didn't know what to to think and would probably have stood there in a semi-stupor until she had missed her opportunity at the wand altogether had Jane not made a desperate grap for it, losing control of the powerful artifact and the years of untapped Faerie Magicks that had been building in the girl due her mother's refusal to train her at all.

But, when she looked back on that day later in her memories, what really convinced Mal to choose good over her mother's insane plan wasn't her love for Ben. It wasn't the reluctance her friends had voiced or even the fact that life in Auradon was much better than living on the Isle had ever been. No, what swayed Mal was three simple words.

"Be careful, Mal!" Queen Belle had screamed as Mal wrestled the wand away from the untrained Jane's hands, quelling the stream of wild power it had released into the air. (And oh what a talking to Mal would give the younger Faerie girl over this whole mess later when she had the time.)

Belle's first instinct had not been to think Mal would turn on them all and do something evil. Her first thought had been for the girl's safety. For no other reason than Mal happened to be dating her son and that Belle was a legitimately caring person. That was the final straw that broke her resolve. A moment of motherly concern that Mal had been lacking all of her life as her mother lost more and more of her sanity.

Too bad that new resolve to be good had to be tested with the untimely arrival of Maleficent herself, in her black "Christening gown" no less, moments after Mal announced that she had chosen the path of goodness and given an inspiring speech to all of her friends in the process.

"I'm baaaack!" Maleficent crowed in an over-the-top way that made Mal want to groan at how embarrassing her mother could act sometimes. This was going to be another one of those days where she sorely missed the dour woman with her wry sense of mischief that Maleficent had been before Dival's death.

"Go away, Mother," Mal pleased wearily. This was not what she needed right now.

Maleficent looded confused for a moment at Mal's reactions before snickering as she commented, "You're so funny. Isn't she funny. But enough games, dear. Wand me. Now."

Mal fumed a bit as Maleficent dismissed her refusal to give up the wand. Why couldn't her mother just listen to her for once? Why did the woman retreat into her own head whenever she heard anything she did not agree with from those close to her?

Well that wasn't going to happen this time. For once she was going to make her mother listen to her instead of backing down. And so, with all of Auradon watching, Mal made her choice and tossed the wand back to its rightful owner.

"Bibiddy, bobbity..." the Fairy Godmother began.

Only to be frozen in time as Maleficent flared her power and froze everyone but the villain children in Auradon with a playful "Boo."

"Oh that was too easy," Maleficent all but purred as she looked over King Adam, taking his glasses off to contemplate him features without them. "Oh, in another time, another time," she hummed, thinking more of his Beastly form and how it would have looked. She then moved over to mock the Fairy Godmother a bit, pleased with with fact she was still powerful enough to render the powerful good fairy immobile after twenty years of being able to do little more than summon the power to make her eyes glow green when locked in a staring contest with her daughter. For a moment Maleficent almost felt like herself again as she moved over toward Ben and looked him over.

"Mother, stop this. You don't have to do this," Mal insisted on the verge of tears.

"Oh child, it's just like I always warned you. Love is foolish, and it will make you weak. In fact," Maleficent said as she pointed the wand at her daughter and used it to summon Ben's signet ring that he had given Mal on the carriage ride to the Corornation. "Look at that, perfect fit," she cackled as the ring was lodged on to the wand.

"Mom, think about what you're doing. This isn't right. You know that," Mal insisted.

"Oh you are so silly, Mal. Don't worry dear. You're nervous. I understand that. In time you'll get it. You'll learn to be evil just like me," Maleficent commented with a motherly smile.

Mal's tears flowed freely now, confusing the elder Faerie, as Mal insisted, "That isn't what I want mother. You've never listened to me or asked my what I wanted. I don't want to learn to be evil. And I wish you never had to learn it either," Mal pleaded.

"Mal, that's enough. Now come take your place at my side," Maleficent ordered, her mirth beginning to slip.

"Mom please, for once, just listen to me. You have every reason to hate Aurora and her whole family. We all do. I get that. But hurting Ben and the rest of Auradon isn't the answer. It's not their fault they never knew about her lies or about that bastard Stephan's betrayal," Mal insisted.

Malficent's face closed down as she took a step toward Mal and gazed shrewdly at her daughter. After a moment of contemplation she sighed to herself and said, "I was afraid of this. You took after me in the worst way. You were swayed by a handsome face and honeyed words. Humans can't be trusted Mal. I told you that."

"For some humans, that's true, but not Ben. Attacking his kingdom to get revenge on someone else isn't the way to do this. You know that. And love doesn't make you weak, Mom. You were always stronger when Daddy was with you. And you know he never would have supported this," Mal pleaded.

Maleficent's ire grew with each word her child spoke. Why oh WHY did the girl have to inherit her mother's weakness for falling in love? And to invoke Diaval's memory like that? The girl had too much of her father in her. That had to be the answer. Always questioning Maleficent just as he had, just like his asking her when she would rescind her curse on the Beastie. It infuriated her so much that she gestured with her hand in an almost negligent way as she muttered at the girl to silence her. It was a motion she had made countless times at her lover when he irked her over the years until his demise.

What she did not remember was that she originally made that gesture to make Diaval return to his bird form to silence him before their imprisonment. And she still instinctively tried to channel her powers into the gesture on the island just as she did in the past, even it it would be ineffective due to the barrier.

And so, quite by accident, she spelled her daughter as she absentmindedly said, "Into a bird," before watching in fascination as Mal let out a choked squawk and began to change.

"Mal!" Evie cried out in horror as her best friend began to convulse and contort, shrinking and sprouting dark purple feathers the color of her hair. Soon nothing was left of Mal but a nearly full grown raven of a most fetching shade of purple. "What did you do to her?" Evie demanded hysterically of Maleficent as she took in Mal's new form.

Maleficent looked only somewhat perturbed, mixed with an odd sense of... pride as she wistfully said, "Oh Mal, my dear. You always _did_ take after your father. He would be so proud to see you looking so beautiful."

The three other kids looked at her in a kind of muted shock. What kind of woman turns her own daughter into a bird and all but shrugs it off?

The surreal nature of the moment was cut short as a voice only familiar to two others in the room capable of responding to it clearly rang out through the assembly.

"That's enough, Maleficent. Your quarrel isn't with the children," Aurora announced as she stepped through the crowd with an air of determination, showing herself to also be unaffected by the Dark Faerie's spell.

Maleficent's expression became almost predatory as she looked Aurora in the eye and said, "Well hello. Beastie."

Aurora's expression was grim as she replied, "Hello, Fairy Godmother."

Maleficent's smile faded as she noted conversationally, "Now that's something I haven't been called in a very, _very_ long time. I wonder why that is? Oh yes, the girl I helped to all but raise from the shadows decided exiling me was easier than explaining that her father and grandfather were the worst kind of scum humanity could produce. Funny how your line always puts titles and ambition before anything else."

"I'm not going to defend what I did to you, Fairy Godmother. I was wrong and I should have spoken up. I know that. But hurting kids, much less your own daughter, isn't going to help it," Aurora replied

"Hurting her?" Maleficent asked, confused. "All I did was change her into a raven. That was her father's natural form, you know. He always thought his human one was so ugly. He would have been preening for days seeing her look like that. Probably more than Grimhilde was crowing over Evie getting recognition on the TV for making Mal's dress."

Neither of the elder women chose to acknowledge Evie's stunned, "Mommy was proud of me?"

Aurora's expression softened at Maleficent's words. Her Pretty Bird probably would think that was an improvement for his daughter. He always was a bit vain like that. "Yes, I suppose he would. But we both know that you only did it to silence her. And that _she_ would not want to be in that form."

Maleficent glared coldly at Aurora for several tense seconds before scowling and she conceded, "I suppose not. Children never understand what's best for them. You certainly never did."

The Dark Faerie looked over to her daughter's avian form to restore her to her birth one only for her eyes to widen as the transformation seemed to be reversing itself without Maleficent's aid. It appeared that Mal had conjured the power to restore herself all on her own, which was ridiculously high level magick. Once Mal was back to human-looking form, dress and all (which was better than Maleficent could do at first as Diaval had ended up stark naked many a time until she perfected transforming him), she stood defiantly to glare at her mother.

Maleficent smiled proudly as she remarked, "That's Mommy's nasty little girl."

"Enough mother. I'm not going to let you destroy Auradon. Wand: to me," Mal commanded as the wand of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother flew out of Maleficent's grasp and into her hand.

Maleficent's face fell into a hateful glare as she remarked, "So you intend to betray me as well, kiddo?"

"No Mom. But I won't just let you hurt the people here, either. Somewhere deep down you know this isn't the answer. I just want to woman I remember from before Daddy died to come back. Is that so wrong?" Mal insisted.

Maleficent's expression grew stony and she replied, "Of course it is. Love will always be a weakness, Mal. It can only end one of two ways, betrayal or death. Stephan used me. Took my innocence and cut off my wings to claim that bastard Henry's kingdom and his tainted bride. And your father, for all the good he tried to do, still left me behind in the end. All love will ever bring you is pain and heartbreak. Why won't you listen to me when I try to tell you that?"

"Because you're my Mom and I love you!" Mal shouted. "I love you, and I love Daddy, and it never made me weak. That's why I know love isn't wrong and it's worth having in your life. I mean did you ever wonder why I always tried so hard to make you proud? To be like you? It wasn't because I was afraid of you like the people on the island. And it wasn't because I wanted something from you. It's because I care about you."

As the mother and daughter(s) were having their conversation, Jay took the opportunity to sneak off to the side, unseen. He hoped that, if he was careful, he maneuver himself to take Maleficent's scepter from her and weaken her.

"And we all know how powerful a child's love can be, don't we, Beastie?" Maleficent sneered as she returned her attention to Aurora.

"Just because I made mistakes doesn't mean Mal would do the same to you. She had you there with her for the whole of her life instead of only seeing you in shadows and faded childhood memories of hugging you and playing with your horns until she was fifteen the way I did. If anything I think I might actually be a little jealous of her. I had to deal with Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather," Aurora responded with an arched brow.

"Who?" Mal asked with a strange look.

"Those three idiot traitors to the Moors; Knotgrass, Thistlewit, and Flittle. They took more human sounding names to try to fit in better after taking in the Beastie," Maleficent explained.

"Oh," Mal noted with a puzzled expression. "And Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather was the best they could come up with?"

"I've told you they were idiots. They would have starved Aurora within the first week if I hadn't been watching her from the forest. Her father would have been better off leaving her to be raised by a pack of wolves," Maleficent elaborated.

Aurora looked mildly offended as she interjected, "I don't think they were that bad."

"Diaval and I were both returning you to your cottage weekly when you were a toddler because they could not be bothered to keep watch over you. And I personally kept you from falling off a cliff at least four different times that I can recall. All before you were old enough to speak," Maleficent challenged.

Aurora looked appropriately chastised as she shyly noted, "There were reasons I called you my Fairy Godmother."

"Because you're an irritating nitwit that doesn't understand when to stay out of a conversation between actual family?" Mal asked cattily, feeling a smug bit of satisfaction that was mirrored in Maleficent's eyes at the hurt look that came across Aurora's face at her words.

Whatever was going to be said next between the trio would never be known as Jay took the moment of apparent distraction between them to leap out and take hold of the scepter with both hands, only to stop short as it did not budge from the powerful one-handed grasp of the Faerie woman before him. His expression grew frightened as Maleficent chided, "Naughty, naughty." She trailed a finger down one of his biceps in contemplation as he noted, "Mmmh. Gaston should be jealous," before knocking Jay a good eight feet back to the feet of Mal and her friends with a finger flick from her free hand.

She regarded the five people in front of her regally before she ordered, "I think that's enough reminiscing for one lifetime. Now hand over the wand or you will face the consequences."

"No. I don't want to hurt you, Mom, but I told you that I will stop you if I have to," Mal bravely replied.

Maleficent's face was like stone before scowled and spat, "So be it," before leaping into the air and transforming herself into a dragon.

"I thought you said she really changed your dad into the dragon, M," Evie noted worriedly.

"Doesn't mean she can't change herself the same way too, E," Mal replied nervously. As she spoke Maleficent dived at the group, Jay in particular, which prompted Mal to add a frantic, "Scatter!"

What followed was a mad dash in all direction to escape Maleficent's wrath with Jay diving behind a pillar, only to have to reverse himself to avoid a gout of greenish flame. He was certain he had met his end he stumbled on his next dash, only to be pulled to safety by a worried Aurora at the last moment before he was flash fried.

"Thanks," he nodded gratefully to Audrey's mother.

"Think nothing of it. Most of this is technically my fault to begin with anyway," Aurora admitted.

"Don't think anyone will care whose fault it is if we don't stop her," Jay noted as they made their way back toward the processional red carpet where Evie, Carlos, and Mal had regrouped.

"Get behind me, I have to stop her," Mal sad as she lifted the wand defensively in front of her.

"We're with you Mal. Maybe together the power of good is stronger," Carlos noted as he, Evie, and Jay stood resolutely with their friend and nominal leader.

For her part Maleficent chose to land and gaze deeply into her daughter's eyes, as if insisting she move out of the way and allow Maleficent to do her work. When ensued was a stare down like the ones that had played out between mother and daughter for many of the last sixteen years as Maleficent's draconic eyes glowed green in the same manner as Mal's did while the pair engaged in the ultimate battle of wills.

As the two Faeries stared each other down, from somewhere inside, a spell formed on Mal's lips as she chanted "The strength of evil is as good as none when it stands before four hearts as one" as a mantra against her mother with her friends standing with her.

And, for the first time ever, the result changed as Maleficent looked away before being enveloped in a strange glow and shrinking down into a black and purple bearded dragon lizard.

"Mal, what did you do?" Evie asked in shock at what had just taken place. She was fairly certain they were all going to die bravely in a last stand with the possible exception of Mal herself.

"I... don't know," Mal admitted in shock as she looked down wide eyed at her mother's new form.

"Does this mean we won?" Carlos asked a moment later. As if in answer to his question, the rest of the people frozen in place in the great hall moved as one, with Ben leaping forward with a fierce inhuman roar much like his father's own when Belle was in danger, only to stop short as he noticed Malficent was no longer in front of him.

Mal laughed and moved to embrace him promising that next time he could save her instead.

Mal carefully returned the wand to the Fairly Godmother, making certain to recover Ben's signet ring from it first, before asking what happened to Maleficent.

"I don't think this was anything you did. It looks like her magick backfired on her somehow and forced her into this form," the Fairy Godmother noted.

"What made her like that?" Mal asked.

"I think she ended up taking on the size of the love in her heart. Which is why she's so... itty-bitty," the Fairy Godmother explained with a sympathetic wince.

Neither Mal nor Aurora agreed with that assessment. Maleficent's problem was never loving too little. Her true weakness was loving too deeply and letting her pain and sorrow get the better of her. If anything, her form might reflect what was left of her shattered sanity. Still Mal took the time to ask, "Is she stuck that way forever?"

"Forever is a long time. You learned to love, Mal. There's nothing to say that, in time, she can't do the same," the Fairy Godmother replied.

For her part, Mal took that as hope there was a change to connect with and help her mother recover in the future. Although she was a bit disturbed to see a royal guard capture her mom with the magically-enhanced bell jar that usually housed the Fair Godmother's wand. "Careful," she warned. "That's still my mother in there," she added tenderly.

She looked at the glass jar sadly for a moment with Aurora at her side as she tried to wrap her head around all that had just happened. She only hoped that one day in the future she could return her mother to her true form. Perhaps even restore he wings to her and return her to the Moors where she belonged. But she knew that would be a very long time away, if ever.


	5. Chapter 5

It took a couple of hours to sort things out after Maleficent's escape, attack, and subsequent defeat as everyone tried to understand what had happened when Jane's wild magick had pierced a hole in the barrier surrounding the Isle of the Lost. Part of that sorting was making sure Maleficent had something with more air than a magickal bell jar to keep her in.

Mal sighed in relief after Queen Belle (or rather Queen Mother Belle as Ben has been officially crowned the new king before her mother spoiled the party thanks to Jane's... accident) reassured her that her mother would not be harmed and that the Fairy Godmother would make certain there was some method to contain her in her new form that Mal would be at least be able to visit, if not care for her mother's lizard form herself.

Of course that clean-up started with a formal reception that left Mal milling around and chatting with people idly in the coronation hall as Ben dealt with some formal duties with his parents before coming to get her. Once they were reunited all that would remain would be getting ready for the banquet, followed by the formal ball, and then the after party the kids at Auradon Prep were planning for later that evening. In fact Evie had made certain that the train and lower half of Mal's ballgown was removable specifically to make it easier for Mal to move during the after party (or for them to make their escape had they decided to go with their parents' plans to snatch the wand.)

And speaking of Grimhilde's daughter, she was approaching her best friend with a wide smile and an abundance of energy that had her practically bouncing as she asked, "Can you believe this, Mal?"

"Hardly," Mal replied sardonically, still a little uncomfortable in her elaborate dress. She had always been a jeans and leather jacket kind of girl, after all.

"I know, right? I mean I can hardly believe that we're being accepted like this. Ooh, and Doug asked me to the ball and the party tonight. Like a real date," Evie beamed.

"So I take it he's forgiven for not standing up to Chad, then?" Mal asked with an exasperated smile.

"Oh please. I was halfway there anyway. I mean, other than Jane coming to hang out with us in our dorm until Audrey got to her, how many others were taking the time to be nice to us?" Evie asked. "And he made me this new tiara I wore today. Don't you love it? Actually, I'm sure you hate it since it's so girly, but isn't it nice? And he made it himself with his own two hands," Evie gushed.

Mal had thought to ask where the elaborate crystal tiara had come from since, as far as she knew, Evie only had the much less elaborate knotted gold tiara with a single ruby accent her mother had given her for her tenth birthday. But if Doug made it, that made sense. He was, after all, half Dwarf. And while his father and uncle were miners by trade, blacksmiths and even enchanted weapon smiths were both common careers for a Dwarf to pursue. "Is it enchanted?" Mal asked after inspecting the headpiece a little more closely.

"No. Doug said he wanted to put some protection charms into it but he's not that good with them yet and he was pressed for time to get it done after the whole fiasco with Family Day. His dad actually dropped off the materials for it then," Evie explained.

Mal's reply was cut short as Audrey's voice rang out with a startled, "What? The jewels in your tiara came from the Seven Dwarves Mine?"

Mal glared at Aurora's daughter for her interruption and thought about making a comment about her eavesdropping on Mal's personal conversations becoming a very bad habit but bit it back to ask instead, "What's so special about that?"

Audrey looked stunned that Mal was so ignorant of something well known in Auradon as she explained, "The Dwarves provide the most valuable and precious gems in all the land. I mean I thought it was a nice costume accent piece you picked up in town with some crystals in it but..."

"Diamonds set in a mix of white gold and pure silver so it can more easily take enchantments when Doug feels up to trying," Evie informed the girl proudly.

"And he just _gave_ you something like that to apologize?" Audrey insisted.

"Of course not," Evie replied. "He was already planning on making it for me. He just gave it to me along with his apology."

"But, that thing would cost... I mean next to the royal treasuries it's not that much but for Doug to just give it as a gift?" Audrey asked wide eyed.

"You do realize that if everything came from the his family directly he probably only paid with his time to make it right?" Mal asked with a roll of her eyes. Monetary value meant little to most people from the Isle because there was so little to go around. If it was useful or needed, like tools and food, it was valuable. Of course Mal, being raised by a Faerie, had even less appreciation for money. If it could buy essentials for you, great. If not, it was useless.

Evie shook her head ruefully at Mal, knowing she would have little concern for what something would cost beyond its practical use, before she gave Audrey a sly smirk as she responded, "Doug said I was worth it. What's the matter, Chad not give you anything nice for your date?"

Audrey still seemed shell-shocked for a moment before shaking it off to scoff, "Please. We all know I only even agreed to go out with that idiot to try to make Bennie-boo jealous after that scene at the Tourney game where he pretty much publicly dumped me. Give me some credit. I do have standards, you know."

Mal's respect for her rival went up a bit as she noted, "You might want to distance yourself from him if you can. Jay and Carlos will probably be looking to enlist Doug's help after he asked Evie out like this. It's never wise to cross a Dwarf. Tends to end with things like getting your lips sewn shut, from what I hear."

Audrey paled a bit at the comment. She hated to admit it, but Mal had a very good point. Most people forgot Doug's heritage as anything more than a running joke when they looked the the clumsy band-nerd with the straight-A average. But he was still technically a Dwarf, even if an exceptionally tall one. "Thanks for the heads up. I wasn't planning on sticking too close to him after the ball was over, honestly. He'll probably try to hit on some of the other girls there, anyway. There's a reason we all say charm was the only thing he seemed to get from his father."

"Good to know," Mal said with a devious smirk.

The trio stood there in silence for a time before Audrey awkwardly said, "Actually Mal, if you feel up to it, my Mom would probably like to talk to you again sometime. She doesn't want to make you upset, but I think it kind of deals with your inheritance."

"What inheritance? Pretty sure I'll lose the right to Mom's castle on the Isle even if I wanted the thing," Mal noted with raised eyebrow.

"Um, kind of your...title?" Audrey offered with a wince. She knew this was dangerous ground she was treading and if Mal could take on Maleficent and win Audrey was not loving her chances if she pushed things too far.

" _What_ title?" Mal all but hissed. She HATED the crap she dealt with back home being called the Princess of the Isle and that was a mostly honorary position. So help her, if Aurora was trying to do something stupid like adopt Mal into her house she was going to throttle that woman like she had wanted to do in her dorm room.

"Well~, your title as the... rightful Princess of the Moors," Audrey explained.

Mal stood there stunned for several moments before Evie looked at her and burst out laughing. "What is so funny, E?" Mal demanded.

"I'm sorry, M. It's just that-" Evie started before dissolving into giggles that bordered on a very unladylike guffaw. She caught her breath for a moment before explaining, "It's just that that moment we got here they told me my title was meaningless and here you are getting _another_ one. You've been fighting being called the Princess of the Isle your whole life and now they're going to give the one girl that would never want it another throne."

"That isn't funny, Evie. It's annoying. If it wasn't related to the Moors I'd put a stop to it right now," Mal growled.

"Whatever you say, your highness," Evie replied with another giggle.

"E!" Mal shot back hotly as he friend teased her.

Evie composed herself before smiling devilishly as she asked, "So does this mean I can be one of your ladies in waiting?"

Mal fumed for a bit before folding her arms in a huff as she replied, "You know perfectly well that the title of Queen of the Moors doesn't pass that way Evie. There is no reason you should be teasing me over it."

"What do you mean?" Audrey asked with a confused look. Granted much of what she was saying she had pieced together herself before she had the whole picture, but Mal was still clearly the rightful heir the Moors from where she stood.

Mal shook her head before looking back at Evie and asking, "Do they not torture kids with Poli Sci classes here like we had to deal with on the island?"

Evie shrugged as she replied, "Not the royals apparently. Which seems really unfair when we had to deal with MORE instruction growing up. She didn't get why your mom was screwed over to protect her family's throne and position, either."

"Can I get a translation instead of you both talking like I'm not here?" Audrey asked with a look of annoyance.

"There have only ever been two Queens of the Moors, my mom and then your mom. My mother declared Aurora her successor, then abdicated to her. But Faeries have no concept of hereditary titles. As far as they're concerned the title will only move on if the previous Queen chooses a successor or is challenged and defeated for her throne. And I seriously doubt your mother is going to abdicate and declare me Queen of the Moors to split her kingdom in half," Mal explained.

Audrey was not so certain of that. Her mother seemed to be feeling a deep sense of guilt that had built for decades in regards to what happened to Maleficent. In fact she was with Ben, his parents, and the Fairy Godmother pleading Maleficent's case to them behind closed doors as they spoke.

Her mental musings were cut short as Evie interjected, "I don't know, Mal. You were the firstborn daughter of the first accepted Queen, who was also the former protector of the land. I think they would consider you their Princess out of respect unless Aurora formally told them NOT to acknowledge you as such."

"Ugh. It's going to be that Princess of the Isle crud all over again, isn't it?" Mal asked, annoyed with the whole idea.

"Probably with a lot less fighting to build your reputation away from your mom. The way your dad would tell it I don't think they're big on picking fights to see if you're strong enough to respect in the Moors and I doubt they have morons like Gaston's twins that you'll have to fight off to prove your superiority," Evie replied with an encouraging smile.

For her part Audrey just stared between the pair and wondered just what kind of life they had to live before coming to Auradon?

* * *

Aurora stared at the floor from where she stood in front of a desk opposite King Benjamin, with Belle and Adam standing on either side of their son and the Fairy Godmother off the right between the two parties. The fact that, until a couple of weeks ago, Ben had been her daughter's steady boyfriend only made this whole encounter even more awkward.

"Do you know why we called for this meeting, Queen Aurora?" Ben asked, trying his best to maintain his composure as the ruler of the United States of Auradon.

"I have an idea... Your Highness," Aurora replied with a small wince.

"Are you aware that while all the people other than yourself and the children from the Isle of the Lost that were in the coronation hall were frozen by Maleficent, the rest of Auradon was not? And that the television cameras showing a live feed of the coronation were still rolling?" Ben asked.

"I wasn't really thinking about television coverage, Your High-" Aurora began.

"Please stop with the honorifics, Aurora. How many years have we known each other? Audrey was coming over for play-dates with the other Royal kids before they could all walk," Belle interjected with a sense of exasperation. There was maintaining a professional distance and there was just being silly. Behind closed doors as they were, this was definitely the latter.

"Thanks for being the one to say it, Mom," Ben said with a smile. That smile faded as he returned his attention back to Audrey's mother as he continued, "Some very strange things were brought to my attention almost immediately after we were unfrozen. Fairy Godmother told us there were some things you might like to tell us before I ask her or Mal about it since you were a first hand witness and everything they know would be second or third hand at best. So please, tell me what this is all about Aunt 'Rora."

Aurora sighed, part of her glad to finally get this all off her chest after all these years. She never should have listened to her mother when she told her to hide it. Or Phillip when he agreed with her. She should have stood up for Maleficent back then. Perhaps all this unpleasantness today would have been avoided if she had. "This will take awhile. I'm going to tell you a tale that everyone knows very well, but it didn't happen the way they all believe. It's the story of a Faerie that lived wild and free in the Moors all her life until she met peasant boy who had braved entering the realm of the Faire Folk to steal a gem in the hopes of feeding himself. And her name was Maleficent..." she began.

* * *

"Man, what is taking Ben so long? He needs to come get Mal so we can eat," Carlos sighed from where he was waiting with Jay.

"Probably security stuff from Mal's mom crashing the party," Jay replied with a shrug. It only made sense that Maleficent showing up would cause some serious stuff to be dealt with. Even if she was a black and purple lizard at the moment.

"You think they'll ship her back to the island?" Carlos asked.

"Don't know. Kind of seems silly to ship a tiny lizard back. But the whole story will probably come out now," Jay speculated with a look toward the doors that Ben had been hurried off through a few minutes after everyone was free of the Queen of All Evil's curse.

"That's going to be so strange. To have people besides the four of us and Evie's mom knowing everything," Carlos noted.

"We only know because Uncle D liked to talk so much and he wanted to make sure Mal knew her history once he found out he was sick," Jay reminded him.

"Yeah. Even back then he knew we were going to stay one crew working together. And he made us promise to to talk about it to any of our parents besides the Evil Queen," Carlos reminisced.

Jay just nodded in agreement, lost in his own thoughts of the recent encounter. As much as he was taught to dislike Aurora growing up she had risked her life to save his. He knew full well that the only one Maleficent would hesitate to fry was Mal. And even that was iffy on her bad days. They were all very glad Maleficent's powers had been so severely limited on the isle when she would fly into a rage over something.

His recollection was cut short as Carlos surprised him by asking, "Hey, you think Jane would say yes if I asked her to dance at the party after the stupid ball we have to go to?"

* * *

" _My GOD_ , Aurora, how could you keep silent over something like that?" Belle asked with a look of horrified shock oh her face as her friend finished her tale.

Aurora was teary eyed as she responded, "At first it was listening to my Mother and Phillip. Then, once I realized how bad the island was and what I did really sunk in Audrey was born and I... I just didn't know how to say anything without hurting _HER_ too. And... I was just so ashamed of myself for letting it happen."

"You should be!" Adam snarled, his Beastly temper coming to the fore. "After what your father did I can only imagine what went through Maleficent's mind. I mean I can only think of a handful of things more heinous than what he did. Were he still alive I'd have escorted him to the Isle personally."

"Actually, Your Majesty, taking her wings like that was probably worse in the eyes of the Faire Folk than what you're thinking. It not only bound part of her power, but it was a personal violation of her in body and soul in a such a way that... well I can't explain it to someone that isn't another Faerie. Not really," the Fairy Godmother interjected with a wince. Much like Aurora she had wanted this truth, one well known to most of the Fae, to be revealed for a long time. But so long as Aurora wore the crown of the Queen of the Moors, none would speak out against her. Now that she was admitting her wrongdoing herself, the Fairy Godmother could finally speak of it as well.

"The question now isn't what was done in the past. It's what we must do to move forward," Ben said with a look of deep concentration.

"I will personally accept responsibility for my actions if that's what you decide is right, Ben." Aurora offered. "I just ask that you don't punish Audrey alongside me. She was totally ignorant of all this until today, really. And even then she only learned it because Grimhilde's daughter told her the whole story while I was busy making a fool of myself trying to connect with Mal."

"I'm not going to punish Audrey for this. And I'm not going to exile you. The real villains in all this were Stephan and Henry, and they have already paid the ultimate price for their crimes," Ben said after a moment of contemplation. "But this lie can't go unpunished, either. The people need to know the truth."

"Indeed. And we should finally address the petitions we keep getting from Maleficent's goblins for clemency," Belle suggested.

"That might be hard. From what Mal told me once, the goblins run a good bit of the infrastructure on the Isle," Ben admitted with a wince.

"But if she was innocent-" Belle began.

" _Mostly_ innocent, dear. She did still curse Aurora," Adam reminded her.

"And broke it herself out of a mother's love for the child of the man that violated her and the woman he abandoned her for," Belle countered with a scowl. Stephan had truly been a monster. She was glad he had died long before she ever met him.

"Mom, Dad, this isn't helping," Ben cut in with a sigh. This whole mess was giving him a major headache.

"That's another thing. I beg you to show Maleficent some mercy. She's sick, mentally, but I don't think she is wholly evil. Mal is proof enough of that," Aurora pleaded, afraid Maleficent would face a darker fate for escaping the isle and causing the ruckus she had.

"There's nothing to worry about there. I'm making a magickally sealed terrarium for her. And should she start to recover and grow into a larger size it it'll accommodate her accordingly," the Fairy Godmother promised.

Aurora sighed with relief at that before turning her attention back to Ben as she asked, "Then all that remains is to decide what will become of me. Will I be losing my royal status the way Grimhilde did? My father did take the throne under false pretenses, after all."

Ben mulled that fact over for a moment before shaking his head. "No. You are still the only legitimate heir through King Henry's line via your mother. King Phillip's titles aren't in question and I have no authority they would acknowledge to try to take the throne of Queen of the Moors from you."

"Actually, I was thinking of declaring Mal as the rightful heir to the Moors, and offering her the right of succession when she turns eighteen," Aurora admitted. "She has more right to that throne than I ever did. I managed to prove that quite well."

Adam looked frustrated as he insisted, "Son you can't let this go unpunished."

"I don't plan on it, Dad," Ben responded. "Aunt 'Rora, you will have to publicly release the full story of what happened to Maleficent and offer a public apology for your part in not revealing these facts during the trial to decide upon her exile. You, your husband, and your mother will also pay direct reparations to Mal as her only heir. You will also lose your vote on the elder Royal Council, although you will retain a lower house vote instead. Public opinion will do the rest to punish you. It might not seem like enough but it's all we can do right now."

"I understand, Ben. Thank you for your mercy and generosity," Aurora replied with a sad smile.

"I do have one question, though," Belle interjected after a pause. "How was it that you weren't frozen by Maleficent's spell, Aurora?"

"Oh that's easy. I've carried her blessing as part of my title as Queen of the Moors. As a result I'm protected from most forms of offensive Faerie magicks.

"Well, I think this is all we can do for today to resolve this. We'll meet tomorrow with Mal and the others to arrange things in more detail. For now we need to get ready to get to the banquet and continue with the day's festivities," Ben declared as he stood and rubbed his neck a bit.

"Agreed. We can meet here tomorrow for lunch and go from there. Although this isn't how I expected our first family lunch with your new girlfriend to go, son, " Belle noted with a rueful shake of her head.

"In all fairness, Mom, we would have had it on Family Day of the incident hadn't happened," Ben reminded her.

"Let's just hope things go more smoothly this time," Adam gruffly offered with a shake of his head.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I don't know if I just had an off chapter or something went strange with the site but I had zero reviews for the last chapter despite a lot of people reading it. So for this one I will say that reviews are the coin of the realm and please feel free to leave a review or a PM for any questions, suggestions, or comments you might have.


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